Jose Saramago – Bible a “handbook of bad morals”

Jose Saramago – Bible a “handbook of bad morals”

Speaking at the launch of his new book “Cain”, Jose Saramago, who won the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature, said society would probably be better off without the Bible.… The book is an ironic retelling of the Biblical story of Cain, Adam and Eve’s son who killed his younger brother Abel. At the launch event in the northern Portuguese town of Penafiel on Sunday, Saramago said he did not think the book would offend Catholics “because they do not read the Bible”.

“The Bible is a manual of bad morals (which) has a powerful influence on our culture and even our way of life. Without the Bible, we would be different, and probably better people,” he was quoted as saying by the news agency Lusa.

Saramago attacked “a cruel, jealous and unbearable God (who) exists only in our heads” and said he did not think his book would cause problems for the Catholic Church “because Catholics do not read the Bible.” “It might offend Jews, but that doesn’t really matter to me,” he added.

7 Replies to “Jose Saramago – Bible a “handbook of bad morals””

Thats funny….and when confronted with street evangelizers who swing their Bible verses at me, I always find that I can join right in and often they run out of arguments… But, I guess I do not know my Bible… 🙂 It would be interesting if those who spend so much time criticizing and condemning Religion or any faith were to actually take it up for a whole year. I mean, really try to live it on a day to day basis for an entire year – four whole seasons, 12 whole months. Reading the Bible, studying the theology, going to Church or the place or worship, praying and meditating according to their system of belief, understanding what it intends itself to really be about and not what others say it is about, studying the teachings of its saints or holy figures of the past…. It would be interesting, but unlikely. Someone might actually change their mind 😮 And they would run out of time for criticism, which of course makes them a better human being…